Determination of Quality Criteria that Allow Differentiation Between Honey Adulterated with Sugar and Pure Honey

Abstract

This study used various parameters of honey to develop a potentially more robust approach to the detection of adulterated honey. For this purpose, 25 multifloral, natural honey samples and 20 samples of adulterated honey produced by bees that had been fed supplementary sucrose syrup were analysed. The mean total phenolic content of the natural honeys was considerably higher than in the adulterated honeys at 157 +/- 13 and 35.2 +/- 7.3mg GAE/100g, respectively. Similarly, considerable variation was determined between natural and adulterated honeys in terms of total flavonoids (3.3 +/- 0.3 and 2.1 +/- 0.4mg QE/100g, respectively), antiradical activity (87.9 +/- 12 and 163 +/- 11mg/mL, respectively) and proline content (202 +/- 26 and 71.1 +/- 21.6mg/kg, respectively.) The potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium contents of natural honeys were also higher than in adulterated honeys (P<0.01). In conclusion, the determination of the proline level, phenolic content, antioxidant activity and mineral profile may collectively provide a more holistic method approach to the differentiation of natural and adulterated honey, and also for comparing their food values.